


giving gifts and getting drunk (both are optional)

by 324b2fun



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-17 00:40:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16964514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/324b2fun/pseuds/324b2fun
Summary: It’s when Charlie absent-mindedly runs her fingers over the random items on display that she pauses on a necklace. It’s a delicate little thing, thin gold chain with a small drop of a red stone. Charlie is immediately reminded of Zari and the totem she wears on her wrist. Without much thought, Charlie pockets the necklace and rejoins Ray at the front, just in time to see the owner deck him. Happy holidays, indeed.Or, Charlie spends Christmas with the Legends.





	giving gifts and getting drunk (both are optional)

Charlie still doesn’t understand how holidays work when you’re on a timeship, but she goes along with it when Sara informs the team that they’ll be having Christmas in three weeks. 

Sara makes the announcement one morning during breakfast, much to the excitement of the team. Actually, it’s mostly just Ray, who breaks into that goofy grin of his before he starts rambling about how he celebrated Christmas as a kid. Mick just takes another bite of his breakfast sandwich, and Constantine starts muttering something under his breath. Then, like the good captain she is, Sara nods along as Ray keeps blathering. 

At the proclamation of a Christmas on the timeship, Zari doesn’t look as outwardly enthused as Ray, but Charlie catches the small smile on her lips before she hides it behind a sip of coffee. However, Zari doesn’t really say anything about Christmas besides telling Ray, “Yeah, well you’re in charge of all of the decorations.”

Charlie just focuses on her own breakfast but also purposely times it so she is the last one in the kitchen with Sara. As if sensing Charlie’s impending question, Sara turns to her with a quirked eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Charlie snaps defensively.

Sara just laughs and goes to refill her coffee. “I’m only looking at you like that because you keep staring at me like you might explode if you don’t ask me whatever you want to ask.” She says nothing more, making her coffee as she waits for Charlie to break.

“I just don’t know how this works,” Charlie blurts out.

“Coffee?” Sara teases, lifting up her mug. “I drink it, and it makes me not maim anyone on the ship.”

“Christmas,” Charlie grits out, annoyed. “What’s the bloody point anyways? I buy you lot some half-arsed gifts and drink eggnog?” 

Sara’s face softens, and Charlie is half repulsed and half pleased that Sara is taking her seriously. She walks back over to the table and sits down beside Charlie. She stares at her coffee mug for a long moment before she says, “Christmas can be about buying shitty gifts and getting drunk, but on the Waverider with the Legends, it’s really just about spending time together.” Sara looks over at her with a slight smile as she adds, “Gifts are optional since we never really have time to get them, but if you do manage, they are highly appreciated.”

“Glad they aren’t expected because I wasn’t planning on getting you a gift anyways,” Charlie bluffs.

Sara just grins, like she knows Charlie’s lying, and annoyingly enough she probably does know that Charlie is lying. Charlie isn’t used to being around people who pay much attention to her at all, let alone someone as perceptive as Sara.

“Whatever you say,” Sara hums. “I’m gonna call Ava. Have fun not thinking of what gifts to get us.”

“Oh, sod off!” Charlie calls after her. She shakes her head because she really hadn’t been planning on getting them gifts, but there’s this small, annoying part of her that won’t shut up about it. It’s hard not to want to get them gifts, imagining Zari’s smile if Charlie were to get her something nice. Not just Zari, of course. The whole team. Because she cares about all of them and wants to see them smile. That’s right.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Charlie mutters under her breath. She gets up and asks Gideon for a pen and paper. She’s got work to do. 

At least that’s her plan, doing work, until she hits the very unfortunate brick wall of having no bloody clue as to what to get anyone. She’s sulking in the library when Zari walks by. Zari pauses in the doorway, hovering curiously. After a brief moment of hesitation, she comes in and leans against the table across from where Charlie is glaring at her blank sheet of paper.

“You okay?” Zari asks, somewhere between amused and concerned.

Charlie just glares harder at her sheet of paper. There’s no way she’s going to admit her problem. Not to Zari.

“Fine, have fun staring at a bunch of paper,” Zari says with a roll of her eyes. She pushes off the table and leaves as quickly as she came. 

As soon as Charlie thinks she’s out of hearing range, she lets out a heavy sigh and crumples up her blank paper angrily. Stupid holiday. She doesn’t need to get them anything. Like Sara said, they aren’t expecting anything.

That’s what Charlie tells herself until she’s in some American pawn shop with Ray for a mission. While Ray tries to charm to owner into letting them see the camera feeds, Charlie wanders around the cramped store aimlessly. It’s when Charlie absent-mindedly runs her fingers over the random items on display that she pauses on a necklace. It’s a delicate little thing, thin gold chain with a small drop of a red stone. Charlie is immediately reminded of Zari and the totem she wears on her wrist. 

Without much thought, Charlie pockets the necklace and rejoins Ray at the front, just in time to see the owner deck him. Happy holidays, indeed. 

After that, Charlie starts finding even more random things that suit each of the Legends on their missions leading up to Christmas. If Charlie didn’t know any better, she’d think Sara planned this. Except, Sara doesn’t even seem remotely smug when she spots Charlie trying to smuggle a rat in a cage for Mick. Sara just gives her this confused look and tells her not lose the rat on the ship. 

By the time their designated day for Christmas arrives, Charlie’s gotten gifts for everyone and even had the time to wrap them with help from Gideon. She joins the crew in the kitchen, heavily decorated with lots of tinsel and string lights courtesy of Ray, tossing her presents into the growing gift pile by their Christmas tree. 

Dinner is a loud occasion. Mick keeps cheering loudly, probably already more than drunk. Nate is there, so him and Ray keep acting like twelve year-old boys on sugar rushes, chatting excitedly to each other. They eventually rope Constantine into their antics while Charlie and the other girls watch on fondly.

Before dessert, Sara says loudly, “Present time!”

Constantine excuses himself at this announcement, but he's apparently cleared it with the rest of the team beforehand because they let him leave without a fuss. Charlie is glad she's already given him the dumb New Orleans snow globe.

“I hope you like your gifts, guys,” Ray tells them earnestly as he walks over to the tree. “I got them when we were in fifteenth century Russia.” He plucks a glittery bag from the pile and proceeds to pull out little wooden figurines. “They’re hand-carved! The woman who gave them to me was so grateful to us that she wouldn’t even let me pay her.” He hands them out, one-by-one. Mick gets a bear, Nate gets a deer, Sara gets a bird, Zari gets a turtle, and Charlie gets a tiger. 

Charlie gently examines the tiger, its smooth wood and sharp edges. It stands like it’s on the prowl, and Charlie tries not to smile too widely. “Thanks, Ray,” Charlie says sincerely.

Ray’s eyes light up at the thanks, and Charlie grins back as she gently punches his arm. The rest of the team echoes her thanks, and then Nate is up on his feet. 

“I don’t know how anyone can top priceless, hand-carved Russian wooden figurines, but I’ll try,” Nate jokes good-naturedly. “I hope you don’t mind it’s all from 2018.”

“Sorry, I only accept gifts from the sixteenth century and back,” Zari teases. 

“Fine, then I’ll take this back then,” Nate says, wiggling a black box in front of her. He tries to pull away, but Zari is too quick and snatches the box from him. Suddenly, Nate looks nervous as he hands out the rest of the boxes. He rubs at the back of his neck as he says, “I just thought it’d be nice if we all had something, as a team.”

Charlie’s jaw drops as she opens the box to reveal a watch that looks wicked expensive. She picks it up gingerly and when she flips it over, she sees engraved on the back of the face, Legends. Charlie looks up, unsure of what to say, and she sees the rest of team searching for words too.

“I know I’m not really part of the team anymore,” Nate says, which gets him a loud wave of angry retorts that he is still part of the team. He waves a conciliatory hand and continues, “I meant I’m not around much anymore, but you guys, you’re still my family. This keeps us connected, even when I’m in 2018 and the rest of you are who knows when.”

“Thank you, Nate,” Sara says softly as she gets up and hugs him. 

Everyone but Charlie joins in, resulting in a ridiculous group hug that Charlie finds herself envious of. Then, Zari looks over her shoulder, peeking over Ray’s arm around her shoulders. She gives her head a little nod, telling Charlie to join, and an inexplicable warmth fills Charlie as she hesitantly walks over and hugs them, wrapping her arms around Zari and Mick. 

Eventually, Mick breaks free with a grumbling, “This is disgusting. I need another drink.” This gets everyone laughing as they settle down for the next round of gifts. Charlie supposes it’s Sara’s turn, but she’s pleasantly surprised when Mick comes back not only with his drink but also tosses a bunch of balled up fabric at them. Charlie looks down at the ball in her lap, unfurling it to reveal a pair of fuzzy socks.

“Mick, you should’ve have,” Sara says mockingly, but the wide grin on her face tells it all. 

Mick just scowls at them as he chugs down half his beer. He burps then replies, “Got them for free after torching down the stall next to it.”

“Aw, you shouldn’t have, buddy,” Ray says, clapping Mick on the shoulder. When Mick growls, Ray quickly retracts his hand but he’s still smiling. 

“Okay, I can’t let you losers show the captain up,” Sara says as she heaves herself onto her feet. She sends Charlie a grin as she scoops up of handful of presents. She hands them out to each person, saying as she does so, “Someone told me they thought the holidays were just about bad gifts and getting drunk, but they’re more than that. They’re about spending time with you idiots, enjoying every moment we have together where we aren’t about to die.”

Sara gets to Charlie and hands over a poorly wrapped gift with a warm smile. Charlie unwraps the gift, ignoring how her hands shake a little as she does so. Underneath the crumpled wrapping paper is a mug that’s a dark navy with Charlie painted on in gold paint. She runs her fingers over her name in awe. It’s nowhere near perfect; the letters are uneven, spaced weird, and not even remotely smooth. It’s still beautiful. Charlie looks up at Sara with wide eyes.

“I spent hours painting your dumb names on those mugs, so if you drop yours, I will personally kick your ass,” Sara tells them with a proud smile, a hint of shyness in it as her eyes drop down to her feet for a brief moment.

Zari looks up from her own mug, a dark red, with one of the prettiest smiles Charlie’s ever seen on her. “Thank you, Sara,” Zari says quietly, “I love it.”

“You’re welcome, Z,” Sara replies, just as soft. She turns and gives a wink to Charlie, making Charlie flush and turn away. Sara doesn’t tease her though. She just turns away and starts roughhousing with the boys as they call out their thanks too. After a few minutes, Sara’s got Nate in a headlock when she says, “Okay, your turn, Zari.”

“Whatever you say, captain,” Zari drawls sarcastically. Unlike everyone else, Zari takes her time walking over to the tree. She seems nervous, like Nate had been, but even more. Charlie watches as Zari carefully picks up her neatly wrapped gifts and faces them with her eyes downcast. “I, uh, remembered recently just how important we are to the team,” Zari says, words measured and almost practiced. “Each of us.” 

Slowly, as if to stall, Zari walks to each of them and presents her messily wrapped gifts, gripped tightly between her fingers. Finally, when she gets to Charlie, she can’t seem to meet her eyes and walks away as soon as Charlie’s touched the gift. Zari wanders back to the center by the tree and takes a deep breath as everyone starts opening her gift.

Charlie hears the team gasp, but her focus is on Zari.

“I made us music boxes,” Zari explains, “with little Waveriders inside that’ll spin when the music's playing. Um, each song is different for all of you. I figured Mick wouldn’t care for a song from a musical in his like Ray would. Anyways, there’s a little gear that goes with each one, like a key, if any of you have ever watched Anastasia, and all of our gears come together. They don’t really do anything besides fit together, but I thought it’d be nice and I wanted, I don’t know–” 

Sara stops Zari’s rambling with a tight hug, and Charlie swears she sees tears in both of their eyes. 

“You don’t even celebrate Christmas!” Sara exclaims with a watery laugh.

Zari lets go from the hug and rubs at her eyes. “Yeah, well the rest of you dorks do, so I couldn’t just not get you gifts.”

“We love it, Z,” Ray tells her, taking his turn to give her a hug. Then Nate does too, murmuring something like, “Maybe one day, somehow, we’ll get a gear to Amaya too.”

Charlie tries not to focus on how Nate mentions Amaya, instead staring down at her very own gear. Zair gave her a gear, practically said the team wouldn’t be the same without her. It’s not anything she didn’t know already, especially with the whole timeline fiasco, but… It’s different hearing it from someone else, especially Zari. 

When Charlie looks up, she finds the team looking at her rather expectantly. Clearing her throat, Charlie stands and gives Zari’s shoulder a friendly squeeze. “This is the best gift ever,” Charlie tells her honestly.

This, of course, causes the rest of the team to start harassing her about their own gifts. Charlie takes the ribbing and teasing good-naturedly because it’s all worth the pleased smile on Zari’s face before she turns away.

“I guess it’s my turn,” Charlie says once the chatter has died down. “I don’t have some sappy speech to give you lot because you’re all quite frankly only a little less than rubbish.”

“Big talk for someone who got us all gifts,” Nate points out with a smug grin. 

“Who knows what you would’ve done if I hadn’t,” Charlie retorts, even though they all know no one would’ve done anything to her if she hadn’t. “Alright, here we go.” Charlie gives a bottle of aged whiskey to Sara, an ugly cartoon tie to Nate, a vintage-looking robot to Ray, and a six pack of German beer to Mick (she did in fact lose the rat). 

Charlie stops in front of Zari with a shy smile and holds out the painstakingly wrapped gift. Zari takes it with a curious look. She glances at what Charlie got everyone else before staring at her own gift. Charlie tries to tone down her excitement as Zari opens the box. Her anticipation quickly changes to confusion when Zari slams the box shut again and shoves it in Charlie’s face.

“A cat collar?” Zari hisses. “That’s a good one, Charlie. I love getting a dumb joke while you got everyone else something they’d actually like.”

Before Charlie can even think of a reply, Zari is storming out of the galley. She stares after her in shock as she remembers what she’d done. As a prank, Charlie had placed the necklace on the bottom of the box, covering it with tissue paper, before laying a frilly pink cat collar on top. She hadn’t expected Zari to act so hastily, not giving her a chance to explain.

“You fucked up, huh,” Mick says, making Charlie turn around to find the rest of the team not so subtly staring at her. 

“I didn’t mean–” 

Sara fixes her with her captain stare and points where Zari disappeared, saying, “I don’t care what you meant. You fix it and bring her back here. It’s Christmas.”

Charlie sighs and chases after Zari. Since everyone else is in the kitchen, that leaves the library and her room. Charlie checks her room first but finds it empty. She jogs over to the library and also finds it empty. A panic settles under Charlie’s skin, and she feels itchier than she has without shifting. Where else could Zari have gone? She takes a deep breath and thinks, letting her feet guide her.

“Zari?” Charlie calls as she walks into the engine room. “Zari?”

Charlie finds Zari leaning against one of the walls, glaring at the Waverider’s engine like it personally offended her. Maybe she’s imagining it’s Charlie. Tentatively, Charlie walks up to Zari, stopping about a meter away. 

“Z, I’m sorry,” Charlie says immediately. She fidgets with the gift box in her hand, trying to swallow the instinct to throw it away and hide. “I… It was a dumb joke, but the cat collar isn’t actually your gift.”

“You didn’t prank anyone else,” Zari replies sharply.

Charlie closes her eyes for a brief moment and sighs. When she opens them again, she finds Zari’s eyes on her. Charlie startles a little and licks her lips nervously. She tries not to focus on the fact that Zari’s eyes follow the movement as she thinks about what to say.

“I like getting a rise out of you,” Charlie admits. “I mess with everyone else, and they just laugh. But you, Zari, you fight back… I like making you mad because you’ll argue with me, and it makes me almost feel alive again. You make me feel the way shapeshifting does.”

Zari is staring at her with wide eyes, and Charlie kind of wishes she were in hell instead of spilling her guts to this beautiful woman. Without saying anything else, Charlie hands her the gift box once more, but this time there is no cat collar.

When Zari pulls back the tissue paper, Charlie sees the exact moment Zari sees the necklace. The way Zari’s face lights up and softens and practically glows makes Charlie feel like maybe she hasn’t actually fucked up for once. 

“Charlie,” Zari whispers, and it feels sound tender and affectionate that it makes Charlie’s insides curl. Charlie isn’t sure if it’s a good feeling or not, but she holds onto it nonetheless. “It’s beautiful.” Zari holds up the necklace, and there it is, still as pretty as it looked when Charlie first saw it in the pawn shop. “Why did you…” The question trails off, and something in Charlie’s heart seizes.

“It reminded me of you,” Charlie explains with a shrug, trying to appear nonchalant and probably failing at it. “You know, your totem.”

“Will you put it on for me?” Zari asks.

Charlie feels her flush as she replies, “Yeah.”

Zari turns around, lifting her dark hair out of the way. As Charlie steps closer, she tries to focus on the cool metal in her hands instead of the warmth from Zari’s body. Charlie takes a shaky breath as she slips the necklace on. It takes her a few tries to get the clasp with her twitchy hands, but she manages it and lets go. Her fingers follow and press against the smooth skin of Zari’s neck. Realizing what she’s doing, Charlie immediately pulls her hands away. 

When Zari turns back around, Charlie tries to step back to give her space, but she’s stopped by Zari’s hand on her wrist. They’re close enough that it reminds her of when they were arguing about the giant octopus’ origins. Except this time, the heat between has nothing to do with an argument.

“Thank you for my necklace,” Zari says quietly. 

Charlie feels like she’s stopped breathing as she replies, “No problem.”

“I’m still kind of pissed at you,” Zari adds, but her eyes don’t stray from Charlie’s lips. 

“That’s fair.”

“And we still need to talk about this.”

Charlie takes a deep breath and nods. “Right, eventually.”

“Eventually,” Zari repeats with an amused huff. 

Neither of them pull away. 

It feels inevitable, this thing between them, especially after Charlie apologized for their rough beginning. This is the first time it’s felt so real though, tangible and happening. Charlie thinks about the two of them staying up in the kitchen together because they both don’t get much sleep, thinks of playing video games in Zari’s room, thinks of Zari reading aloud to her after a long day. Charlie thinks she’s an idiot for ever letting think Zari think she hates her.

Charlie isn’t sure who leans in first because all she can focus on the fact that Zari is kissing her. The kiss is chaste a first, but when Charlie pulls away, Zari chases after her and deepens the kiss. Somewhere, the gift box falls to the ground. Charlie can’t help but gasp a little, taken aback by how aggressive Zari is being. Not that she is complaining. At all. She slowly slides her hands over Zari’s hips, pulling her closer until they’re pressed together. Then Charlie groans as Zari snakes one arm around her neck and drags the other down her back, dull nails still feeling like electricity through her shirt. 

“Whoa,” Charlie mumbles as she stumbles back. That’s a lot for a first kiss. Like, a lot a lot. She still has her hands on Zari’s hips, keeping her close as Charlie tries to get herself back together. When she looks back up, she feels flushed all over again. Zari’s lips are swollen and her eyes are dark, and Charlie kind of just wants to haul her back in.

“Whoa indeed,” Zari hums. She cups Charlie’s face oh so gently and runs her thumb over her lower lip teasingly. She kisses Charlie once more slow and tender, and Charlie swears she just about melts. Who was this woman? Had Zari always been this good of a kisser? When Zari pulls away, she’s got this smug as shit smile on her face that Charlie has half a mind to wipe off.

“We should get back to the team,” Zari says lightly as she pulls away, as if she hadn’t just made out with Charlie and left her completely and utterly turned on. She grins playfully and holds Charlie’s hand to tug her along. “Thanks,” Zari tacks on as she walks them back up.

“For the necklace or the kiss?” Charlie can’t help but ask.

Zari laughs and replies, “Both.”

Before they reach the kitchen, Zari drops her hand and gives her a look that says later. The two of them walk in to find the rest of team slumped in their chairs with three empty pie tins sitting in front of them.

“You’re back!” Ray cheers, noticing them first. He glances at the empty tins and explains sheepishly, “You took too long.”

“It’s fine, I’ll just have Gideon to fabricate us another,” Zari reassures him.

Charlie goes to sit down when she finds Sara staring at her strangely. It feels like she’s been caught. She tries not to fidget, but something about Sara’s gaze unnerves her.

“So,” Sara says, turning to look at Zari, “did the two of you kiss and make up?”

Charlie chokes on the beer Mick handed her, and Zari presses the fabrication button a little too hard. After a beat of silence, Zari clears her throat and says, “Yeah, we did.” She glances over her shoulder to Charlie, a sly smirk on her lips. “We definitely did.”


End file.
